Late Regrets [and stuff]

"I could always...um..." She stopped herself. What would she do, move to Greece? It would be impossible to get a passport with her mental record. And for what, a friend she loved that already had a girlfriend, a friend she hadn't seen in years? She tried to push the idea out of her mind, but it was already there. She loved him. It was not fair. She would never be able to tell him. She never got the chance to tell him. "When did things get so different? Why Do we have to grow up?"

'She'd say your name a lot, sometimes out nowhere... She loves you, you know...'

Those words had practically followed him by the day ever since he'd originally read them. Looking at Lotte now, the way she spoke and the pained look on her face, those words were the only thing he could think back to in that moment. "It'll be fine," He found himself quickly trying to comfort her. "They send Guardians out all the time. I'm sure we'll meet up again." That didn't feel like enough. He sighed. "I'm not gone yet. We can still hang out like we used too." Jace smiled a little more brightly. "You know, it's kinda weird seeing you without a camera around your neck."

"Ah." She grinned with shades of her usual self, the self Jace knew more, and she snapped. "Well, you're in luck." She dug through her bag, pulling out a camera, the camera. She would never replace it unless it died. "I was going to wait until the last minute, but since you brought it up..." She smacked him on the upper back, the part that went over the bench. "Get up, I'll take your picture, it's been a while."

He really should have known better than to think she'd ever abandon her camera of all things. Jace grinned back, pulling himself off the bench. This was the Lotte that he'd been missing. "Alright, alright!" It'd been a while since he posed in front of a camera though. "What do you want me to do?" Just for a start, he began throwing out the most generic poses he could think off. He ran his fingers through his hair. He fixed the collar on his jacket. He smiled and winked her direction.

Lotte couldn't find a nice steadypoint, and messed around with various stances. She finally settled on kneeling on the bench, bringing the camera to her eye, a brighter look on her pale face. "All right, hold on, move to the side, about 6 inches, no, wait, more like 9, or maybe I should move..." She seemed to have to think of this for a moment. "No, no, you move, and give me a serious pose first, not dog-died serious, but more like yearbook-photo serious."

Jace laughed a little under his breath as she shuffled around the area, across the ground and climbing up on the bench, trying to get the perfect angle. He wondered how often she tried to take pictures of everyday people minding their own, and if she did, how on earth she got away with it with her love for perfection. "Really? But that's so boring." He feigned a sigh, shrugging and straightening his back a little, smiling a yearbook smile, just for her.

"I'm not done, Wrightie, I'm far from done." She took a few photos, the lighthearted snaps emitting from the camera and her spirit, it a part of her as she shifted from knee to knee on the bench, dirtying the skirt she'd spent a while dusting off. "Now give me a goofy smile, like I just told you a joke." she commanded. If he was going, she was going to get her time out of him. She had a collage in the works: The Return to Beata Academy. Perhaps she'd publish it in the paper. Did they still have a paper?

Jason raised an eyebrow, thinking that he wasn't exactly a model to start with, much less an actor... He was good with people, but in front of a camera, that had to be a different story entirely. "Oh, Ha. Ha ha." He flashed the blandest, cheesiest smile he could, almost breaking away from his spot to walk up to her, but stopping himself - lest he ruin her precious angle. "Can't even give me a knock-knock joke to work with?" He smiled like himself that time.

"Your face is joke enough, if you want me to hold up a mirror." The joke was harsh, but it came out almost nonchalantly, a preoccupied tone overtaking the girl's voice as she snapped more pictures. One, two three. Yeah, that was enough. She lowered her eye from the camera and accented her next command with a weird circular hand gesture, its oddity highlighted by the robotic hand that performed it. "All right, last one, do whatever you feel comfortable doing. This is the money shot, come on." And the camera returned to her face, pressed against her pale cheek.

Yeah, that was definitely more like the old Charlotte he'd known. Thankfully, he already knew better to take it seriously when she said things like that. Instead of getting caught up on it, Jason leaned back on his heel, looking seemingly thoughtful. "Whatever I'm comfortable doing, anything at all?" He mused. Well, one thing was for sure, he wanted to have a little fun too - and didn't wanna be the only one walking away empty handed from this moment. And so he smiled, "Alright."

Jace left his spot, walking up and standing at her side, throwing one arm over her shoulder and leaning in close, so they could both fit in the picture. "Now go for it," he said quickly. "And I want a copy of this one before I leave."

Augh, what? A selfie? Lotte had always found those deplorable, the name sounding amateur and crude. But it was what he wanted, and she wasn't about to push him off of her. That wouldn't make for a good scene. She was trying to make herself nonchalant around him, trying to make it so she was cool with being friends, cool with getting close to him without kissing him. "Fine," she went, and gave a smile to the lens, feeling strange for being on the other side. And with a few snaps, she turned the camera back around.

Of course she had to be stubborn about the whole thing. He didn't quite understand what the big deal was. As far as he knew, she hardly ever had taken pictures of herself, if any at all, and maybe he just wanted something to remember her by when he hit the road. "You can stop looking like you ate something bitter now," he teased, letting his arm drop and taking a step back again, glancing between her and the camera. "I suspect you'll get more pics of me when I'm not paying attention anyways, won't you?"

Suddenly, as an instant reminder of why he'd come to that part of Rosebury in the first place, his stomach growled; and he shifted around uncomfortably for a moment, hoping she hadn't heard. He spoke on quickly, "I was going to go for a bite to eat before shit almost hit the fan, if you wanna join me...?"

"Noo..." She lied, regarding his first question, eyes trailing to the side. The second one had a little more optimism, though, a positive nod. "Sure, yeah." She'd already eaten some cake with her coffee, but what was she going to do, say no? It wouldn't kill her. Her mom always warned she'd get fat if she kept eating as she did, and well...that didn't stop her.

He shot her a look of amused disbelief, but it wasn't as if there was anything he could do about it. Jason glanced around, looking between several restaurants, the cafe down the block, and the bakery they'd just come from. It didn't matter to him in the least where they went. Food was food, and right about then, anything was sounding good. "Do you want fancy and formal or something sugary and sweet?" He asked, looking back to Lotte. "Pick wherever. It's my treat."

"I haven't been here in 2 years," Lotte said, beginning to walk beside him in a casual stride, tucking the camera into her bag and looking up at him with a sideways smile. "You pick, I don't care." In truth, she didn't really care. She wasn't particularly craving anything. She became less picky after over six hundred days of pure hospital food. She almost shuddered at the thought. "You can still pay, though."